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The Machine
The Machine is a piece software built and designed by Harold Finch and Nathan Ingram for the United States government. About The Machine utilizes feeds from domestic organisations such as the NSA, and foreign entities including Interpol . It reviews all video footage, phone calls, electronic transactions and e-mails secretly without anyone knowing about its existence. The Machine sorts persons of interest into relevant (terrorism) and irrelevant (everything else) cases. Every night at midnight, the irrelevant list is erased. Finch later realized that the irrelevant list contained people about to be involved in violent crimes, which he later came to believe was just as important as the "relevant" list. Finch therefore left himself a backdoor to the Machine in order to access the irrelevant list. Communication The Machine uses the Dewey Decimal Classification to communicate new Social Security Numbers. Whenever it identifies a person of interest, it notifies Finch via text message. He would then use a public pay phone to receive call numbers of books that are catalogued by DDC. Combining their DDC numbers allows him to put together the SSN. The Machine would only contact Finch if it perceives a threat. It is yet unclear to what extend the Machine is self-aware or sentient and in how far Finch is able to control it. History 2002 January 1 - Day 1 Finch begins work with the Machine, starting by asking it if it can see and identify him. February 16 - Day 47 Finch is testing the capability of the Machine to find him by playing hide and seek. June 10 - Day 161 Finch was teaching the Machine to track persons of interest. The Machine is receiving feeds for New York only. Finch estimated that the Machine was 4-5 years away from completion. 2003 Sept. 6 - Day 614 Finch take the Machine for a 'test run' by going to a casino in Atlantic City and playing blackjack. Early the next morning, as Finch leaves the casino, the Machine saves him from a hit and run accident. 2005 February 8 - Day 1135 Alicia Corwin and Nathan Ingram are seen discussing the Machine in Battery Park. Nathan gives Alicia the first number. February 24 - Day 1151 The Machine officially goes online. It gave its first relevant social security number, which was associated with a DIA agent. After Ingram passed the number on to Alicia Corwin, the government liaison, the agent was found to be a traitor. Finch showed Ingram how the Machine operated; finding patterns in activities that no human would ordinarily look for. It then perceived Ingram as a possible threat. 2007 Finch had been teaching the Machine to distinguish the relevant information/list (terrorism or national security threat) from the irrelevant list. Finch and Ingram discussed the moral implications of ignoring the irrelevant list. It was mentioned that only eight people knew about the existence of the Machine. Jessica Arndt's photograph was shown on the monitor as identified for the irrelevant list before Finch turned off the monitor. 2009 Both Ingram and Finch prepared to ship the Machine discreetly to its new home. However, Ingram was worried about the fact that the Machine could possibly become compromised at some point, though Finch disregarded his worries. He claimed that the Machine was inaccessible to all, and did everything itself, including patching and improving. Ingram later used his administrative access to input a new function named "Contingency" in case the Machine was ever abused. July 12 The Machine was boxed up and put on a train departing from Des Moines, Iowa. It was then transferred to Union Pacific Railway bound for Salt Lake City, Utah. 2010 A Black-Ops team was sent into Ordos and eliminated all the software engineers working on a stolen version of the Machine before taking it to another location. Unknowingly John Reese and Stanton, originally believed to be sent in to steal back a computer program from the Chinese, were sent into the abandoned city to make sure that the advanced team had eliminated all the building's occupants housing the Machine as well as successfully extracting every piece of it from Ordos. 2011 Sept. 16 - Day 3546 Finch and Reese meet in Queensbourgh Park and Finch recruits Reese to work with him. Sept. 20 - Day 3550 Finch reveals to Reese that he receives the information about the numbers from a Machine that he has built for the government. 2012 January The Machine starts to recognize Reese as an asset. May Finch is apparently contacted by the Machine and it gives him the latest number over a pay phone. May 16 - Day 3789 A new number—identified as Caroline Turing's—is received by Finch. She is later discovered to be the hacker known as Root. May 18 - Day 3791 Root abducts Finch, and the Machine notes that continuity of operations has been compromised. After evaluating options, it contacts Reese on a pay phone. People who know about the Machine By the time of its creation officially seven people knew about the Machine. Except for Ingram, nobody else knew of Finch also being involved, therefore, in fact eight people were aware of its existence. *Nathan Ingram *Harold Finch *Alicia Corwin *Denton Weeks *Pennsylvania Two A few more people came to know about the Machine later: *John Reese (most likely learnt about the Machine through working with Finch, however, in various flashbacks, Reese is shown with a yellow square, long before Finch officially told him about the Machine. If Reese understands Chinese, it is possible he learned of the Machine during the mission to Ordos, China. ) *Henry Peck (unknowingly discovered the Machine through his work at the NSA) *Root (she found out about the Machine and later sets out on a mission to set it free) Coloured squares The Machine applies different coloured squares to people in order to distinguish relevant from non-relevant threats as well as people who know about the Machine from those who do not. White squares - generally for people who don't know about the Machine. It seems the Machine assigns white squares to people who are under its investigation due to conspicuous behaviour but eventually do not pose a threat to somebody else. White squares with red corners - for people who are an imminent threat to another person. These people might not have planned the attack themselves and only follow orders given by somebody else. Red squares - for people who may be a threat to the system administrator (Finch) or to the Machine itself. Yellow squares - for people who know about the Machine. In addition, the Machine also distinguishes watercraft and aircraft. Boats, ships and ferries are assigned a white diamond while airplanes and helicopters receive a green triangle along with flight coordinates and airport codes. (white because he doesn't know about the Machine) and Reese (yellow because he knows) turn red after the Machine found out that they were investigating Finch. ]] Machine Machine Machine Machine